It was painful for us to learn that the football Camelot in Autzen Stadium for the first half of the first two games was just a dream. The new quarterback wunderkind, “St. Marc” (as he was called by high school teammates) showed us that he was fallible, and the offense can stumble. Yet with some of the disappointments are also some tremendous learning opportunities for us as fans, and an interesting development to note for the rest of the season. Let’s get to it!

The abilities of Colt Lyerla have been well chronicled as one of the more amazing athletes to sign with Oregon in recent years. The YouTube video showing him jumping to a table six feet off the ground from a flat-footed beginning has legendary status among Oregon football recruiting devotees. In the picture above we see him setting a block on De’Anthony Thomas’s first touchdown run.

Only after DAT is by him does Colt (Above) release his block, with a frustrated defender. Lyerla has already been recognized as an outstanding blocker and a video I created last week demonstrated those abilities blocking the “Sweep Read” play.

Oregon is running a double tight end formation above with two flankers at the top generating the most attention. In this play we will see Colt go out to a “Bubble” position and catch a pass while the cornerback to that side will come up for the tackle.

Lyerla has caught the pass and has unbelievably juked and burst through the tackle of the corner. He is unusual in that he has the quickness to deal with the smaller defensive backs, and the power that comes from his 6’5” frame. He is headed for the end zone!